Tax Classification Hearings & Current Tax Rate

Setting the Tax Rate

Before the tax rate can be set, the Board of Selectmen must hold a public hearing each year to consider the tax rate options available to the Town under property tax classification. The hearing is held after the assessors have determined final values and classified all properties and reported this information to Massachusetts Department of Revenue. These values set the parameters for the options the Town may adopt.

The Town has several options in distributing the tax levy among taxpayers under property tax classification. Use of these options results in multiple tax rates for different property classes because they change the components used to calculate the rate, i.e., the amount of the tax levy being paid by, or the assessed valuation of, the class. The total tax levy remains the same.

The Board of Selectmen must decide whether (1) to tax all classes of property at their full and fair cash valuation share of the tax levy, which results in a single tax rate, or (2) to reduce the share of the tax levy paid by the residential and open space property owners and shift those taxes to commercial, industrial and personal property taxpayers, which results in a split tax rate. When splitting the tax rate, the Board of Selectmen must decide what the shift between classes will be. Once the shift is known, the tax rates for the property classes can be determined.

The Town has had a split tax rate since FY1988.

Current Tax Rates

The current tax rates for FY2023 are:

• $16.25 for Residential Property
• $25.37 for Commercial, Industrial and Personal Property